Helen Marshall (historian)

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Helen Edith Marshall (October 25, 1898 – August 1988) was an American historian who specialized in nursing.

Early life
She was born in Braman, Oklahoma. Throughout her life she lived in many places, including Oklahoma, Kansas, North Dakota, New Mexico, Illinois, Montreal, Manchester, and Arizona. She had a brother, Leon Soutierre Marshall (born 1904 in Oklahoma).

Education
Marshall earned an AB from the College of Emporia in 1923, an MA from the University of Chicago in 1929, and a PhD from Duke University in 1934.

Career
She taught school from 1916 to 1931. In 1930 she became an instructor in history at the University of New Mexico. From 1934 to 1935 she was professor of history and chair of the social science department at Eastern New Mexico College in Portales. She then worked as an instructor in American history at Illinois State University in Normal, where she stayed until retiring in 1967 as a full professor.

Publications
Marshall wrote Dorothea Dix: Forgotten Samaritan (1937), which was an alternate selection for the Book-of-the-Month Club. Illinois State University Press published Grandest of Enterprises in 1956, followed by The Eleventh Decade in 1967. Five years after that she wrote Mary Adelaid Nutting: Pioneer in Modern Nursing with support from the U.S. Public Health Service. She also contributed articles to the Journal of the Illinois Historical Society and the New Mexico Quarterly.

Death and legacy
She died in August 1988 in Green Valley, Arizona, and is buried in Sahuarita, Arizona.

Grandest of Enterprises
Her book Grandest of Enterprises, a history of Illinois State University from 1857 to 1957, has been criticized by some historians for omissions and for presenting the university in an overly favorable light, with questions about the use of sources.